346 Snails and Slugs considered 



burned, and dug over. In April it was trenched, mixing a 

 quantity of road and drift sand during the process ; and by the 

 beginning of May it was in a fit state to receive seeds of any de- 

 scription. It was thrown into beds 4 ft. wide. The beds were 

 raked both before and after sowing, the operator standing in the 

 alleys between them, as I considered it injurious to set a foot 

 upon the beds. This was sown with carrots, five rows in the 

 bed, and a beautiful crop produced, better than had been seen 

 for ten years previously. 



Exotic Nursery i King's Road, Mai/ 22. 1841. 



Art. IV. Snails and Slugs considered tvith reference to Horticulture. 



By J. G. 



The only snail which interests the gardener is the Helix aspersa 

 of naturalists ; for that which they have named the garden snail 

 (H. hortensis) is rather a field than a garden species. The 

 former is much the larger of the two, and has a dull shell, 

 marked with three faint mottled brownish bands, and a white 

 rim round the aperture; while the shell of the latter is glossy, 

 distinctly banded with vivid colours, and the oral rim is brown. 



The slugs which frequent the garden are, the jLimax agrestis, 

 L. cinereus, and L. ater. The L. agrestis is the commonest, of 

 a greyish colour, and from 1 in. to 2 in. long; the L. cinereus is, 

 on the contrary, from 3 in. to 5 in. in length, of a greyish or 

 dusky colour, with darker spots and stripes; and the L. ater 

 is easily known by the jet black and wrinkled skin of its back. 



Snails and slugs agree generally in shape and in their other 

 characteristics ; but the body of the snail is protected with a 

 shell, while the slug is naked. They have four tentacula placed 

 in front of the head, and which, by a singular process of in- 

 version, can be drawn entirely within it : the superior pair are 

 always the longest, and they carry near the tips, but a little on 

 one side, each a small eye, by which the animals distinguish 

 objects nigh at hand ; with the inferior pair they feel and try 

 the road vvhich they have to travel. Between and under this 

 pair is situated the mouth, guarded by two swollen lips, in which, 

 perhaps, the sense of taste may reside. The mouth is armed 

 above with a semilunar horny jaw, placed transversely, and 

 having its outer or cutting edge furnished with one or several 

 serratures. Within the mouth, stretched upon a protuberant, 

 fleshy, buccal mass, the tongue is laid, shaped somewhat like 

 the bowl of a spoon, and consisting of a thin membrane reticu- 

 lated in a manner so exquisitely regular and minute, that no one 

 can examine it without admiration ; so that we recommend it as 

 a microscopic object to those who are fond of that instrument. 



